


Tight Spaces

by Emerald_Ashes



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Anxiety Attacks, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, deals with anxiety, mostly angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-09
Updated: 2016-08-09
Packaged: 2018-08-07 14:21:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7718137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emerald_Ashes/pseuds/Emerald_Ashes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set after "Crystal Venom",  the castle is slowly being brought back into working order after the corruption in the ship's systems. Coran has a training exercise planned to serve as a test that is supposed to be simple, and easy. But with Lance things are never easy, although this time it's really not his fault.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tight Spaces

A few days had passed since the castle ship went berserk and tried to kill the whole team. It was taking a while to reset the systems, and place everything back into working order. After all, it was almost sent hurtling into a dying star.

So far they were able to reboot the navigation systems, secure the lion hangars, and clean up the kitchen so that they were able to get food. It was surprisingly difficult to get dried food goo off the walls. 

Now they had all been summoned down to the training deck. Coran stood before them, waiting patiently for them to come to order. He seemed a bit excited for what he had planned. “All right, paladins. I’ve rebooted the training deck. I would like to run a training exercise just to make sure everything is in working order before allowing full access.” 

“It’s not going to be the gladiators, is it?” asked Keith. Obviously, his last encounter did not bring pleasant memories.

“Yeah, one of those things almost took Keith’s head off a few days ago,” Lance added. “But it didn’t manage to get your mullet, Keith. You could have used the haircut,” He smirked at Keith. 

He rolled his eyes, “Shut up.” 

“No, we’ll work up to that,” Coran said. “Today is fairly simple. I’m going to have you go through the maze one at a time. You will be guided through by one of your fellow team members; that way we can also work on bonding a bit more. So with that said please try and be civil to each other,” He was looking directly at Keith and Lance as he spoke. 

“We’ve already tried this though,” Lance groaned. “What’s the point of doing it again?”

“Even though you are able to successfully form Voltron, doing trust exercises will strengthen your ability to work together.” 

“But why have a guide? We can see where we are going?” Pidge asked. 

Coran smiled, and clapped his hands together. “That’s the fun part! It’s going to be done in the dark.” 

“The dark?” Lance mused. He seemed to have realized he spoke out loud. “So you’re going to blind us and zap us?” 

“Ooh, is someone afraid of the dark?” Hunk teased. 

“Psh, no,” Lance dismissed him. “I was just clarifying.” 

“Alright, we’re all clear on the plan. Please head up to the observation tower to watch until you’re up. Shiro, would you please start us off on the exercise?” 

“Sure, Coran,” Shiro put his helmet on as the others filed out of the room.

From the observation deck they started the exercise. It was a fairly easy task. Though it did take some concentration to get through the maze successfully. Hunk led Shiro through the maze first. Shiro then guided Pidge, and Pidge directed Hunk. 

“Okay, Lance you’re on deck,” Coran announced.

“On my way,” Lance grabbed his helmet and headed towards the training deck. When he entered the room, the maze rose from the floor. Every time the maze had changed with each new paladin, so that when they were monitoring from the tower above they couldn’t memorize its layout.

“So who do I get for a guide?” Lance asked, but he had a feeling he already knew the answer.

“Keith will be helping you,” Coran said cheerfully through the comm. 

“Oh goody,” sarcasm laced his tone, but he knew Keith took all types of training seriously. He just liked to mess with him. 

“Dude, let’s just do this and get it over with,” came Keith’s voice through the comm in Lance’s helmet.

Lance huffed, “Fine.” 

“All right, Lance. Let’s begin,” Coran said. 

The lights hummed as they were powered down, and shut off once more. Lance could still see the outline of the maze wall in front of him. It was eerie in the darkness as large structure of the maze loomed over him. He moved towards the entrance and almost tripped over his own feet as his visor was suddenly activated and blacked out as well. 

“Aw, come on!” Lance whined. 

“Your helmets are equipped with night vision sensors,” Coran explained almost immediately. “After being exposed to darkness for an extended period it will turn on. Which would clearly defeat the purpose of this exercise.”

“Let’s get started,” Keith spoke up. “Take three steps forward, then turn right and take two more.” 

A sudden, cold tingle was at the base of Lance’s neck as he stood in the darkness. It was… unsettling. Lance didn’t say anything though, and moved forward as Keith directed, counting silently as he went. 

“Now take a left, and go four paces.” 

“Is a pace bigger or smaller than a step,” Lance tried to joke to ease some of the tension he was feeling. 

He heard Keith sigh, “Please take this seriously.” 

“I never realized how dark pitch black is,” Lance mumbled to himself. It was picked up by the comm. 

“Focus, or you’ll hit the wall.” Keith warned, but a second later there was an audible smack as Lance collided with the wall in front of him. 

“You said four!” Lance shouted at him. It was only to cover up the fact that he almost screamed in surprise from the abrupt contact. 

“I did, and you took five,” Keith responded. 

“Okay, okay. Just keep going,”

“Go right six steps.” 

Lance put his hand upon the wall and trailed it along the surface. He could feel his skin had goosebumps beneath his armor. Being in the dark like this was starting to make him extremely uncomfortable, and having something solid to touch helped. 

Why was this bothering him so much? He had done corn mazes at night around Halloween back on Earth. Well, he did have a flashlight then. It was never this dark either. 

Now he was in an all-encompassing darkness. And let’s not forget, he wasn’t even on Earth anymore. He was in space! With no light, or natural warmth, or even oxygen. You get sucked into space, and that’s it. Game over. 

“Watch it!” Keith said just as Lance smacked another wall hard with his shoulder. Lance slammed his fist into the wall in frustration. “You keep over-stepping, focus.” 

Lance exhaled a shaky breath. He had been too distracted in his thoughts. The cool tingle he felt at the start of the maze had grown stronger; into a cold vice that was starting to envelope his whole body. It reminded him of being stuck in the cryopod as it started the freezing process. He shuddered remembering how he was still conscious when the pod closed, and how he helplessly watched as it slid beneath the floor. It was just as dark then. 

He wanted to be freed from this maze already. 

“Okay, this is the part looks like it gets a little complicated,” Keith said, and it pulled Lance back to the present. “The walls narrow a bit, and the maze zig-zags.” 

“That seems a bit excessive,” Lance moaned, and shiver ran down his spine. 

“It’s a bit tricky. There are four turns, each about three steps in. It starts on your left. The last turn will be on your right. Be careful because it forks at the end.” 

Lance moved onward and he could tell the walls had narrowed immediately. His shoulders almost touched on each side, and he couldn’t fully extend his arms at his sides. He started noting where he was according to Keith’s instructions, and found the next turn. He picked up his pace, keeping his hands on the wall, and after the fourth turn there was…nothing. 

The opening was supposed to be there, Lance thought. Why wasn’t it there?

“Keith, what’s going on?” Lance asked, and there was a hint of fear in his voice. “I-I did what you told me to,” Lance felt like there were butterflies in his ribcage now. There were nervous flutters in his lungs with each breath he took. He knew he was on the edge of panic. It was sudden and harsh, and he was trying hard to stay in control. 

“You went left instead of right on the last turn. You just hit a dead-end,” Keith explained calmly. He glanced over at Shiro who also picked up on Lance’s tone. 

“Keep going,” Shiro urged. 

“Keith,” Lance called out to him. His voice hitched a bit. “I need to get out of the maze.” 

“Just turn around, and go straight. You’re almost to the exit. Just a short distance to go,” Keith meant for it to be encouraging.

Lance heard him even though his ears had started ringing, and his legs were trembling. They were heavy, and uncoordinated when he tried to step forward. He willed himself to just make the turn out of the confining walls, but he couldn’t move. 

He just needed to calm down. Yet the longer he remained in the dark, the harder that seemed to be for him. The ringing was growing stronger, and Lance could barely hear Keith speaking to him through the comm links. 

He yelled in frustration, startling everyone in the observation tower. “I-I can’t do this anymore! Just…just let me out. Something’s…” He couldn’t seem to catch his breath. It was like all the air around him was being stolen from his lungs. He was cold and breathless. It was absolutely terrifying him. 

“Something’s wrong,” Lance gasped. He took his helmet off and threw it. Only to have it bounce off a maze wall. He could just make out the silhouette of the maze now; it didn’t help make him feel better. His breathing was quickly becoming erratic. No matter how much air he tried inhale, it felt like his lungs were just not receiving it. 

The team could still hear Lance through the comm links in their helmets. “I think he’s hyperventilating!” Hunk said and reached for the controls to shut down the maze. Fortunately, Coran was in the same mindset and beat him to it. The lights flashed on almost too fast, and probably ended up blinding Lance. Keith and Shiro sprinted out the door, the others were soon on their heels. 

Without the maze erected Lance was now sitting in the middle of the room, the palms of his hands were pressed into his eyes. He wheezed trying to pull air into his deprived lungs. 

“Lance, buddy,” said Shiro quietly. “You’re out. It’s okay now.” 

Lance looked up and tears were falling down his cheeks. “I-I can’t breathe,” he attempted to say, but his hiccupping breaths hindered him. Instead he scrambled for the clasps of his chest plate, and tried to take the armor off. But his fingers were clumsy in his panic, and just aggravated him further. 

Keith grabbed Lance’s hand to make him stop. “I got it. I’ll help you, just focus on slowing your breaths.” 

Lance stared at him, and watched as his hands moved swiftly over the armor. Keith then pulled the chest plate off which seemed to help some. But Lance was still breathing rather uncontrollably. It felt like the butterflies had now transformed into angry bees inside his chest, and he was poking the hive which each breath. He just could not get enough oxygen. Slowly his vision was going fuzzy, and mottled gray around the edges.

Someone was calling his name, but wasn’t sure which one of his teammates was yelling at him. It was probably Keith. He liked to shout at him the most. 

He could feel that his body was starting to give up with co-operating with him at all. “S-sorry,” he managed to stutter, and Lance promptly lost consciousness. His body went completely limp, and he started to fall backwards. Keith and Shiro reached out simultaneously and stopped him from hitting the floor. 

“Is he okay?” Pidge asked, worried to see Lance in such a state. 

“I think he will be,” Shiro answered. “Hunk, you’ve known Lance the longest. Has he been prone to claustrophobia or anything like this before?”

“No!” he paced a bit in front of them, obviously worried for his friend. “I’ve never seen him freak out like this. He’s not afraid of the dark, and I didn’t think he was afraid of tight spaces. I mean he wanted to be a fighter pilot at the Garrison. It doesn’t get much tighter than sitting in the seat of a cockpit.” 

“Then what was this episode about? It wasn’t a cry for attention, or a joke,” Keith glanced down at Lance who was lying flat on the floor now. His breathing was becoming more regular.

“We’ll ask him what was wrong,” Shiro suggested. “Just give him a moment.”

They waited patiently for a few minutes, but Lance had yet to stir. He had really worked himself up; he was probably exhausted. 

“Either we should try and rouse him, or just move him into his room,” Hunk suggested. 

Keith was still sitting beside Lance. “I’ll try,” He grabbed Lance’s shoulder and gently shook it. “Lance, come on. Wake up.” 

Lance stirred, and slowly opened his eyes. He blinked slowly, clearly trying to process what he was seeing. Then his eyes went wide, and he seemed to realize what had occurred. 

“Oh man, oh man,” He slowly pushed himself off the floor into a sitting position. “Did I…did I faint?” He asked quietly. His voice was a little hoarse. 

“Yeah, from hyperventilating,” Pidge answered. “You went so pale, and then just kind of flopped backwards, man. You really scared us all.” 

Lance’s cheeks reddened in obvious embarrassment. “Quiznak.” 

“Can you tell us what happened? What upset you so much?” Shiro questioned. 

Lance shook his head. “I don’t know what happened. I just felt this sense of panic rising in me the further into the maze I went. I didn’t realize what was happening. I’ve never been afraid of the dark, or close spaces. But as I was going through the maze, I just started thinking about how I had been trapped in the Cryopod, and then almost jettisoned into space via airlock.” 

“I get it,” Shiro could recognize where Lance was coming from. “It’s okay. It must have been traumatic for you. It’s understandable that something like that would upset you,” 

“Y-yeah, I guess it was,” he admitted. “I just thought about being trapped and no one ever finding me. And even though I could talk to you guys in the maze, I just freaked. I knew there was nothing there to really threaten me.” 

Keith was thinking over what he was saying, “It sounds like you had an anxiety attack.” 

“It’s something we can work on.” Shiro offered. He had seen many pilots in similar situations before. He knew Lance would need time to deal with this. “We can help you overcome this, or work with you so that we can try and catch it before it happens again. It might have just been this one time, or it might not.” 

“Yes,” Coran spoke up. “If need be we can change the exercises accordingly to best assist you. Just let us know, Lance.” 

“I don’t want it to happen again. I’ll screw up if we’re on a mission or something…” 

“We’ll be there to help you,” Keith said drawing Lance’s attention. He realized Keith hadn’t moved from his side the whole time. “It’s not something that just goes away immediately. But we can learn to see the signs. I could tell you were on edge in the maze. I-I’m sorry I didn’t realize sooner.” 

Lance visibly relaxed. “Thanks,” he smiled at them. It reassured him to know they were so willing to help him. “So uh, can I be excused from training the rest of the day? I’m kind of exhausted now.” 

Shiro laughed, relieved to see Lance was starting to feel slightly better. “Yeah, buddy. Why don’t you go take a rest in your room. We’ll see you at dinner.”

Keith stood up from his spot beside Lance, and offered his hand. Lance accepted it, giving him sheepish smile. Keith pulled him to his feet. “I think I prefer the zappy, invisible maze instead,” Lance joked. He was a little shaky, so Keith kept a steady hand on his arm. 

Keith just shook his head. “Come on. I’ll help you back to your room.”

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this idea in my head for weeks after watching the "Crystal Venom" again. Lance seemed pretty shaken up when he was released from the cryopod, and I thought he might have been a little scarred from that experience. I deal with anxiety myself, so I was trying to write what was familiar to me, but I know it's not the same for everyone. Nor do I wish for this to come off as offensive to anyone. It was just meant to be an angsty short story, with some family support thrown in.


End file.
